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Cunningham
Lt. Cunningham (formerly known under the codename of Boa) was an African American member of FOX during the San Hieronymo Takeover. He had an artificial leg which replaced the one he lost in a mission, and was FOX's interrogation specialist. His unique Sneaking Suit color was yellow. Biography Early Life Cunningham's early life is unknown, but it is known that he suffered a grievous wound to his left leg during a mission that required it to be amputated, and fitted with a prosthetic. After losing his leg, he ended up being shuffled to a desk job at Langley by the CIA, much to his consternation and anger. He also learned at an unspecified time about at least some of the details about the true nature of The Boss's defection and the CIA's role in her "defection" during Operation Snake Eater, thus making him even angrier and hateful of the CIA, as he revered her (The Boss) as "the mother of the Special Forces". Eventually, he was scouted by the United States Department of Defense to try and smear the CIA's reputation, and he agreed, wanting to pay the CIA back for removing him from active duty. Cunningham was one of the FOX agents who kidnapped and brought Big Boss to San Hieronymo (presumably with Null and other FOX agents at hand as well as a knockout drug, given Big Boss's dream sequence and Cunningham's comments about it being "exactly twelve hours since FOX administered the drug Big Boss"). Apparently, he was notorious for his interrogation expertise, as Big Boss was able to identify him after only hearing his name. Cunningham then told Big Boss that he's actually here to ask him (Big Boss) a simple question: Where's the Philosophers' Legacy. When Big Boss told him to ask the CIA because they were the ones who took it after the mission, he whipped Big Boss with an electrified baton and then placed his artificial leg on Big Boss's pelvis, revealing to him that the CIA had only gotten half of the Legacy in Operation Snake Eater, and thus the CIA suspected that he stole the other half. When Big Boss denied stealing the other half, nor had any knowledge of where it was located, Cunningham whipped Big Boss with the electric baton again and left (although not before hinting that while it was an official FOX mission, it soon won't be). Sometime after Big Boss and Roy Campbell's escape, Cunningham, along with Ursula and Gene, discovered their escape and board a Hind A helicopter to conduct an aerial search of the area. He also radioed some personnel demanding to know from the ground forces why they hasn't caught Big Boss and Roy Campbell yet, and threatened them to do something that they'll end up regretting if they get away. He then decided that they should call Python back to the San Hieronymo Base and have him lead a search unit, as well as to keep the Research Lab secure. Cunningham, Ursula, and Gene later arrived back at the Research Lab, and he asked about Null's status, and he mentioned having brought in Elisa to speed up the process. However, he was unaware of the scaffolding nearly collapsing and Gene saveed Cunningham at literally the last second by telling him to not move. He later arrived at the Missile Silo Entrance with a number of soldiers to recapture Big Boss, telling him that he had been quite a handful. He then knocked Snake out by whipping him with the butt of his rifle. He later used the same rifle to try and get Null to stand down with the stance that his mission was complete. After delivering him to the Guest House, he stripped Big Boss of his clothing, tied him to a chair, and presumably used him as a punching bag in front of Gene, given Gene's comments (which, according to Cunningham, would not even qualify as torture to Big Boss due to his being a former FOX member). He then proposed that he use a recently-developed truth serum to force Big Boss to reveal where the other half of the Legacy was (presumably, the serum was strong enough to break even a FOX operative), with the sideaffect of acting as an anesthetic. Gene initially opposed due to the fact that truth serums did not work on a FOX agent, and even if they did, they usually weren't reliable, as well as running the risk of breaking the person before they could even interrogate. When asked by Gene what the rush was to get it, Cunningham explained that he felt it was necessary from an effeciency standpoint. Gene then decided to agree to let him use it, but only under the condition that he would talk to Big Boss first. Sometime later, Cunningham was tipped off by Ursula that Big Boss would escape with the help of his men during a rescue mission. With this knowledge, he ambushed Big Boss. He decided to interrogate him by using his soldiers as target practice in order to force Big Boss to answer where he hid the Legacy (as well as inadvertantly giving a hint at his true loyalties). Elisa, after stealing a transport truck, knocked Cunningham off of the hovercraft, although not before he noticed her. He then encountered Big Boss with his hovercraft while he was on his way to the Launch Control Room. He then revealed the truth to Big Boss: While he feigned loyalty to Gene, it was revealed that he was actually working under direct orders from the Pentagon (While he mentioned The Pentagon being his true loyalties, Cunningham continuously mentions to Big Boss that there was a man who wrote a script for Big Boss's mission and had some influence in the Pentagon.). His objective was to force Gene to deploy Metal Gear and launch a nuclear strike on the Soviet Union, and thus, tarnishing the CIA's reputation as an efficient organization (or as Cunningham put it, "The CIA'd lose face and the military's influence will start to soar"), as well as to erase any evidence of what happened by blowing away the peninsula afterwards. He was relegated to a desk job by the CIA when he lost his leg in a mission, and lost faith in the CIA as a result. He attempted to gain Big Boss' cooperation, but he refused to take part in the Pentagon's plot and attacked Cunningham (with Cunningham declaring Big Boss as "a real traitor"). Cunningham fought Big Boss in a flying hovercraft armed with a gatling uun, side-winder missiles and a laser. After Cunningham was defeated, he lamented at Big Boss's decision to disobey his mission (which was to force Gene to launch Metal Gear), as both he and Big Boss would have receive "the highest honors a soldier could achieve", he attempted to blow the San Hieronymo base with a Soviet-made Davy Crockett in an attempt to take Big Boss down with him, but his hovercraft was badly damaged during the battle with Big Boss, causing it to explode, killing Cunningham before he could launch it. Shortly thereafter, Gene expressed pity that Cunningham had died without ever realizing that he had been used. Trivia *He shares his surname and a similar face appearance with the Benson Cunningham character from Snatcher, although their clothing and roles are drastically different. Also, the password to recruit him is a direct reference to Snatcher (JUNKER). *In his career he is revealed to be an Arms Specialist and a Quarterback. *He also has a unique set of animations during gameplay. All other characters use all of Big Boss's animations while Cunningham has unique run and sneak animations. His movement sounds are also unique because of his artifical leg. *Cunningham's accidentally blabbing about the The Pentagon's involvement during Big Boss's escape from the Statehouse in his interrogation/torture resembles Volgin's "backward" interrogation torture on Naked Snake (eg, revealing information that he previously didn't know) in Metal Gear Solid 3. Behind the Scenes * To unlock Cunningham outside of a Password, the player needs to get not only defeat Cunningham non-lethally, but also defeat him before January 1st, 1971. Category:Game Boss Category:MPO Characters